


Strictly Business

by JaneTurenne



Category: Gallifrey (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-13
Updated: 2012-10-13
Packaged: 2017-11-16 04:50:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/535683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JaneTurenne/pseuds/JaneTurenne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Political intrigue is no fun without a little foreplay.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Strictly Business

"We really must stop meeting like this, Madam President. People will talk."

"You might have considered that before you invited me to dinner, Arkadian." Romana spreads her napkin demurely across her lap.

"I would have asked you somewhere more private, if I believed there was any chance you might accept. As it was, the best I could manage was to hearken back to my favorite of our previous trysts."

"As I recall the incident on Earth, 'debacle' would be a preferable term to 'tryst,' but I must admit I don't mind the setting this evening. It _is_ difficult to find fault with the Orient Express in Space.

"And the prices are very reasonable since that unfortunate Sekhmet incident," says Arkadian, cheerfully.

"How kind of you to be concerned on my behalf, as I'm certain you fully intend once again to leave me with the bill."

"Only by way of completing the atmosphere of happy reminiscence."

"Of course," says Romana, rolling her eyes. "Can we get down to business, Arkadian? Your message was cryptic as ever."

"Was it?" he asks, feigning surprise. "You must forgive my bumbling ways, my Lady, but I flatter myself that no man so consumed as I would find it easy to put words to his emotions."

"Oh no," sighs Romana. " _Must_ we go through all this again?"

"My own heart, incomparable Romana... I may call you Romana?"

"You most certainly may _not_."

"It is so easy for you Time Lords," he says. "You can give your hearts away, and still have one to spare. But when we poor humans lose ours, we are helplessly bound to follow where they lead."

"And what about men who haven't any hearts at all?" she says, sourly.

"Well may you ask, since you stole mine away."

"You're the thief, not I."

Her hand sits on the table, beside her empty glass. He takes it between both of his. "If I could but steal your affections," he says, "I might begin to call myself worthy of such praise."

Romana leans across the table, gazing intently into his eyes. "Arkadian," she says, in a low, husky voice.

"Yes, my flower?"

"Did you know that a Time Lord's muscles are approximately seventy-eight times stronger than those of the average human?"

He dips his head, and murmurs, "Is that an invitation to find out what some of yours can do, my Lady?"

"In a manner of speaking."

"Oh, my _dear_ Madam P..."

"Specifically," she purrs, with a sensual little smile, "if you decline to release me in the next ten nanospans, to demonstrate the efficiency of my fingers by breaking every single bone in your hand."

He drops her hand with a sigh, and retreats to his own side of the table. "Like a rose trapped in ice," he says, mournfully shaking his head. "So beautiful, and so cold. Some day, my Gallifreyan goddess, I will find a way to melt you."

"Better life forms have tried," she says. "In fact, I would go so far as to say that _everyone_ who's tried has been a better life form."

"And therein lies my advantage!" proclaims Arkadian, lifting the wine bottle and moving it towards her glass, which she covers with a hand before he can pour. He shrugs, and fills his own glass instead. "I am beyond question a deplorable old sinner, Madam P, only the faintest embers of goodness yet stirring in my soul. Imagine what a woman it would take to reform such a one as me. Think of the challenge. Think of the fame. Think of the everlasting glory to she who could accomplish such a feat!"

"Believe it or not, being the most powerful woman in the known universe is enough challenge, fame and glory to content me just at present. It also means that I haven't got time to waste with your childish games. Are you ever going to tell me why you invited me this evening?"

"I yearned for you with every sinew of my being. Isn't that reason enough?"

She rolls her eyes, and stands. "Goodbye, Mephistopheles Arkadian."

"Ah," he says. "Before you go... It does seem a shame always to be mixing business with pleasure, but..."

One of Romana's eyebrows quirks as a knowing smile tugs at a corner of her mouth. " _Finally_ ," she says, settling herself back into her chair. "Out with it, then, Arkadian. What do you _really_ want?"


End file.
